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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

UPDATE: Poor performing, high-profit virtual charter chain + ALEC member, Naperville legislator sponsors Illinois parent trigger law Parents United for Responsible Education

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » ALEC member, Naperville legislator sponsors Illinois parent trigger law:



Updates to Illinois General Assembly school closing moratorium

Bill - CongressionalBill numbers for school closing moratorium legislation in the Illinois Senate and House (info from Jackie Leavy):
SB 1571:  As of now, Sen. Delgado plans to call the bill for debate and a vote in the Senate Education Committee on TUESDAY, MARCH 19th, 1:00 PM in Springfield.
HB3283:  Chief Sponsor State Rep. Elgie R. Sims, Jr, Chief Co-Sponsor State Rep. Emanuel Chris Welch
Jackie writes: PLEASE NOTE:  The House version has been sent to the RULES COMMITTEE- a standard ploy to prevent a piece of legislation from being debated and called for a Vote.State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, Chair of the House Elementary/Secondary Education Committee joined her Latino Caucus coleagues at Monday’s Press Conference, but needs to be supported and encouraged to work with Rep. Sims to get his bill sent to her Committee.


ALEC member, Naperville legislator sponsors Illinois parent trigger law

Thanks to Substance newspaper for alerting us to the introduction of a parent trigger law proposal in Illinois.
HB3295 is sponsored by Rep. Darlene Senger, R-Naperville. Senger is a member of the ALEC corporate “reform” legislation writing cauldron.  ALEC’s “Stand your ground” proposal became notorious in the wake of the Trayvon Martin killing. Senger’s proposed law is a clone of another ALEC-inspired proposal, the parent trigger.
Senger’s proposal:
Gun - TrickProvides that the parents of at least 51% of students in a low-performing school may initiate reform measures at the school through the submission of a parent petition to the school board. Provides for submission of a notice of petition. Provides that the petition shall request that the school board fully intervene in the school and implement one of the following reform measures: (1) reopen the 






Poor performing, high-profit virtual charter chain headed for Naperville and other burbs

While writing the post about the parent trigger proposal sponsored by Naperville Republican Darlene Senger, I noted that there are currently no charter schools in her area but came across this notice of a hearing into a virtual charter school proposal for 18 districts including Naperville:
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
On February 14, 2013, Naperville CUSD 203 received a proposal to for the operation of a multi-district charter school called Illinois Virtual Charter School @ Fox River Valley. The applicant is seeking to open an online school for students in grades K-12 beginning in the fall of 2013. This proposal has been submitted to 18 local school districts for consideration.
computermoneyA public hearing will be held at 5:00 pm on Monday, March 18 at the Public School Administration Canter, 203 W. Hillside Road, Naperville. The meeting will consist of a 30 minute presentation and up to 30 minutes of public comment followed by administration comments and questions.
Within 30 days of the public hearing, the school board shall vote, in a public meeting, to either